Cat met a tragic end

Dear Cat Owner,

I am writing to thank you for letting your poor little kitty outside today on this cold, rainy afternoon. She was running across Route 12 when she was hit by a car (that didn't even bother to stop) in front of Dunkin Donuts. A nice man picked up her broken and bloody body and brought her here to our shelter. He couldn't stand to see her die in a puddle of water by the side of the road in the cold rain, just lying there suffering.

Luckily our vet was still here working with our shelter animals (which we already have plenty of - including stray cats). He immediately went to work to help your cat, but wasn't able to save her. She was paralyzed and had major internal injuries and was suffering miserably.

She was a beautiful female tiger cat. Young, maybe nine months or so. She had a whole life to live. But because your family thinks cats should be free to run and play and frolic outside, she is dead now.

It was my underpaid, overworked, tired of hearing excuses, sick of dealing with pet owners who just don't care, disgusted by people who think we kill animals because we don't care, staff who was there petting and kissing your cat and telling her she would soon be free of her pain.

I even named her Dunkin, because she deserved a name, and to die with dignity, and we were there for her when you weren't. It was us with tears in our eyes, because we couldn't help her and we probably loved her more in those minutes than you did in her whole life.

I even wonder if you will come looking for her. Do you even know she's missing? Do you even care? Our shelter is filled daily with stray cats that have been brought in. It's no fun being a stray, lost, abandoned, neglected animal, you know.

Maybe you'll see this letter, maybe you won't. But for those who do read this I hope this will encourage you to keep your cats (and other pets) safe indoors. If I hear one more time that cats are supposed to be outdoors I think I will run out in traffic myself. Cats do not need to be outside. There are cars and coyotes and diseases and tragic, painful endings to short lives and all sorts of other horrible things that can get them or get to them. Rest in peace, Dunkin. You are no longer suffering.